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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: squash · pitch · court · march · last · ground · spring · game

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. court — for sport
  3. march — the month
  4. squash — the sport
  5. spring — a coil
  6. last — finally
  7. last — to go on
  8. court — of a king
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. game — wild animals
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. spring — of water
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. squash — to crush
  18. spring — the season
  19. game — a match
  20. court — of law
  21. pitch — completely
  22. march — music
  23. ground — the earth
  24. last — final

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com